Head coach Mike Brennan and senior Charlie Jones spoke after American's 73-65 loss to Wagner that dropped the Eagles to 0-4. Full video above and selected quotes below.

BRENNAN ON THE 1-3-1 “We weren’t ready for the 1-3-1 tonight, which cost us on a couple possessions so that’s obviously something we’ve got to work on.”

CHARLIE ON THE 1-3-1 “I just think right now we have a younger team so there are sort of higher priorities to take care of. I mean, we prepared for the zone and we handled it well in practice, we knew it was something they were going to throw at us, but at the same time it’s different from when you start going over it in practice.”

BRENNAN ON SHOTS TAKEN VS THE ZONE“I mean we did get a lot of open 3s but you can’t rely on that. I thought if we stuck with our offense a little longer. In the second half we started throwing it to our center and we were getting better shots and it sort of took them out of it. But it took us a whole half to get to that point. That’s something that comes with youth.”

BRENNAN ON WHAT MADE WAGNER SO TOUGH IN THE PAINT “They’ve got a bunch of good 1-on-1 players. They’re all tough with the ball, good drivers, and they execute their stuff well.”

BRENNAN ON SA’EED PLAYING 40 MINUTES. EVEN THINK OF PULLING?“He’s used to playing a lot. He’s played a lot of ball in his life. He’s just — he’s a lot like Charlie. He’s always zeroed in throughout — when we’re practicing, long practices. And he’s zeroed in. For a freshman to sort of act the way he does. We knew that coming in. He’s from a great high school program so he understands what this is about so it’s not surprising. If I don’t have to, I’m probably not taking him off the court too many times.”

BRENNAN ON GASPERINI“Mark had a big game tonight and I don’t think he — we wasted so many possessions against that 1-3-1, I thought he could have done a lot more if he had more experience. But I’m obviously happy with his production. He’s learning. He saw the things he could do better and could work on.”

“We’re way ahead of where we were last year for sure. Even though you’re 0-4, whatever you are, I’m not worried about wins and losses. I’m worried about getting better and keeping these guys working each day to get better and better so we’re ready for league play.”

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